My journey with clay began when a potter friend donated a bag of recycled clay for me to 'mess around with'. The tactile hands-on nature of working in clay felt so immediate and new after years of holding paint brushes and other tools to create my art. I loved having a direct impact on the materials with my hands, it felt fresh and exciting (I gave up finger painting years ago!) I also realised that I didn't need a whole heap of expensive gear to get started with clay.
The local dollar store was my go to for a few cheap and basic implements to help me with modelling, then all I needed was a table top and a rolling pin. Once the clay is modelled it can sit on a shelf in a corner of the studio for several weeks to dry out, which is a necessary part of the process. I'm lucky enough to have a local pottery supply store only half an hour away who fire pots. My greatest challenge was getting them there in one piece at the greenware stage. I've had a few breakages and learned a lot about packing and transporting fragile items!
Clay time is is great downtime for me, it's such an absorbing way to work and feel creativity engaged in art making, when I'm not painting. And the best part is, I don't feel the need to relate my clay work to my painting, it's like a separate part of me comes out to play, and I totally LOVE that! My ceramic 'sculpture' art is all about character, colour and whimsy. Each piece is unique and evolves during the making process, no planning involved!
My love of vibrant colour is satisfied by using bright and beautiful under glazes which can be painted on with brushes (no need for a science degree and lots of bags of powdered components - and I'm hopeless at following recipes for anything). I feel like I can truly be in my 'design' head space when I'm looking to add patterns and mix and match colours.
Best of all, these little creations have a glossy solidity to them once fired which I find gorgeously appealing. On wet and soggy days when paint on the canvas is slow to dry, clay gives me another avenue to just show up and keep working at my art making. These pieces stand about 15 cm high, though I have made one or two more ambitious pieces! I don't list these pieces on my website, but if I do have pieces for sale, I'll let you know via my Studio News mailing list or at Noosa Open Studios (October each year).
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